We Are Survivors
by LovelySpaceyGirl
Summary: Jeanette wasn't expecting troubles when she went to Savannah Georgia, but the infection would soon prove her wrong. But she will not face this journey alone, for she has a new family, joined by Coach, Rochelle, Ellis, and most importantly, Nick.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Look in the mirror and see what you want to see. Look in the mirror and see your inner Super Man or where you will be in ten years. Look in the mirror and realize the type of person you really are and not what you're trying to be. See the tears, see the anger, see that hidden expression no one else has ever seen. Look deeper and make yourself believe that what is inside is for yours to see and no one else, whether it is good or bad. I don't see any of that when I look in the mirror…what I see is the fifteen year old girl I am. I see the slightly wavy dark redish-brown hair that slightly hangs over my shoulders and covers my left eye. I don't see hidden tears or anger in the gentle violet eyes that stare back at me, only the blankness. The tiny black fragile skulls hang lightly from my ears, despite it's creepiness doesn't add any darkness to my childish features. The small brown vest outlined in orange didn't obscure the view of my plain green shirt underneath, neatly tucked in to my black hot pants, a brown jacket tied at my waist out of habit. I knew I wouldn't need it in Savannah, Georgia, but I couldn't leave it behind for the long summer that awaits me. The mirror makes me feel small and pitiful, especially only 88 pounds while being five feet and four inches.

"Jeanette, are you ready yet?" I heard the voice of my mother ask from down the stairs. I took a deep breath; I've never really left home for as long as I was expected to leave it for. I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, I never expected anything would tear me away from it. I was born in this house, and I expected to die in this house. Circumstance however is going to take its toll and I'll be back, I guarantee it. With that in mind, I looked away from the mirror and slipped on my black boots lined with fur on both the inside and outside. Only for a minute did I think about the intense heat that my feet would be submerged in, but it passed and I walked out of the clean bathroom, closing the door.

* * *

"Why are we going to Savannah anyway?" I couldn't help but ask it's been plaguing my mind for a while now. It came suddenly, without warning, her coming in my room to announce where we were going. My mother took a minute to answer, her long bright red hair hiding her face from me.

"An old friend needs some money, so I'm going to give him some." She finally replied. Nodding slowly, I turn back to the window. Unable to keep my mouth closed though, I turned back to her with more questions.

"Why don't you just send the money to him, then?"

"It's not that simple, Jean!" she snapped. I felt taken aback. I was just asking she didn't need to get so snippet with me. Supposing it was because of my intrusion on her business, I looked away, feeling slightly hurt. Hearing her sigh I turn to look at her. "I'm sorry, it's just…I'm a little nervous about seeing him. We haven't seen each other in…a very…very long time…" I nod with understanding, slowly facing the windshield. Without turning to face her again I ask her the question that's been bothering me the most.

"Aren't you a little worried about the sickness going around? I mean…isn't it a little too dangerous to be taking a road trip all the way to Georgia?" I felt the breaks used suddenly, nearly causing me to be propelled forward, stopped by my seatbelt. Preoccupied, my mom waved an apologetic hand to the cars behind her and eased the car back into drive before answering angrily.

"You've been watching those stupid news programs again haven't you?" taking my time to answer, I propped my elbow up on the door of the car and leaned against the palm of my hand.

"It's kind of hard to miss, mom…if you haven't noticed, it's become a major problem." She sighed.

"Yes, but it hasn't reached that far yet…we'll be fine and it's not like we're going to be staying for a very long time." She hesitated for a second before continuing. "Hunny…I need you to stay in the room we'll be staying in while I talk to my friend…okay?" disbelieving, I turned to her in shock, but she refused to meet my gaze; focusing on the road.

"What? Why?" I asked, trying to force her to answer.

"He doesn't know about you, and I'd like to keep it that way…just…don't ask me why, okay? I'll explain once you're older…" feeling defeated, I look back out the window.

"Fine…" I whispered, not even sure if she heard me. Deep inside I desperately hoped we wouldn't be staying long.

* * *

We were going to stay at a hotel called "Vannah Hotel". Unenthusiastically I began to unpack my backpack into the graciously offered dresser. My mother however, was walking around humming, placing little things around the room. "We should go site seeing while we're here! It's not like we're in a hurry to get anywhere, doesn't that sound fun?"

"Yeah…fun…" I said sarcastically, flopping down on the bed, looking at the clock as it read 7:23 P.M. Not noticing my sarcasm, my mom continued going around busily, getting ready to meet her "friend". I looked at her with narrowed eyes as I noticed how suggestive the dress she decided to wear was.

"I thought this guy was just an old friend?" I accused.

"He is." She answered, perhaps a little too quickly. I watched her pick up the key to the apartment, then look at me.

"Are you sure you will be okay by yourself?" I nodded, but unconvinced my mom walks to my bed and sits on the edge. Her hair was slightly wavy like mine, complimenting her simple black satin dress. She put a hand to her neck, where she wore an orange collar with a huge green pearl in the middle of the smooth fabric. I've never seen it before in my life, guessing it was a family heirloom that she saved for special occasions. Her skinny fingers moved along the collar before resting at the back of it, where she unclipped it and let it fall to her lap. Picking it up, she looked at it for a second before handing it to me, smiling. "A little present…"

Grinning, I take it from her as carefully as I would a baby duck. It was soft to the touch, and the pearl was oddly warm. Careful not to rip it, I clasped it around my neck. "What do you think?"

"It looks wonderful, darling…perfectly matches your outfit too! Which reminds me…don't forget to change into your pajamas before going to bed, okay?" she told me. It was only then when I remembered I was still in the clothes I wore very early this morning.

"I won't." I reassured, and with that she stood up and headed towards the door. Unable to stop myself, I called out. "Mom?"

She turned around. "Yes?"

"You will be home tonight, right?" I asked. She gave me a soothing smile.

"Of course hunny…" she said before opening the door and closing it, locking it behind her. Once she left, I looked up at the ceiling in thought. It wasn't long before the exhaustion of the day's travel reached me and my eyes closed unwillingly, drifting me to a far off dream land.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I found myself getting increasingly annoyed at the sound. Attempting to block it out, I folded the pillow over my ear, but it somehow still broke through the physical barrier; attacking my ears.

"Mom…can you turn off the alarm…" I groaned, not wishing to get up. I tried to go back to sleep, but the beeping insisted I stay awake. "Mom…" there was no answer. Curiously, I sat up, giving up on trying to sleep through the noise. As I suspected, the noise was coming from the alarm clock across the room, but that wasn't what caught my attention. For one, my mom was nowhere in sight. For two, the room was filled with a hazy thin smoke, enough to make me cough. Straining to find the reason of the smoke, I only needed to sniff the air and smell burning wood for me to find out. The hotel was on fire!

Leaping out of bed, I quickly slipped on my boots, which I kicked off in the middle of the night and ran towards the door. Grasping the handle, I attempted to twist but it refused to move. "Dammit! Locked!" I looked desperately up at the door, trying to find a way to open it. What the hell kind of hotel has it locked on the outside to the point where you can't unlock it on the inside? Cursing to myself, I leaned against the door, thinking hysterically for ways to force the door open.

"Hello? Someone there?" I heard from the other side of the door.

"Yes! Can you help me please? I can't get the door open!" I pleaded. A few minutes passed as I heard grunts from what sounded like a young man trying to get it open.

"Ah, hell! I can't get it open! That's bullshit." I closed my eyes. This was hopeless, without the key I'm stuck in here. And with the building on fire, I'm going to burn in here. This is the worst road trip EVER. "Get away from the door, I'ma kick it in!"

Obeying, I backed away. Seconds later the wood made a loud SNAP as it split under the immense pressure of the man's foot. The man, who looked no older than twenty-three, entered the room. He had light brown shaggy hair, hidden under a blue and white hat with a picture of a tow truck on it. His shirt said bull going down then across it said Shifters, a tattoo could be seen in a strange design on his right arm, and he wore mechanic coveralls tied around his waist. Even through the thickening smoke I could see his eyes were crystal blue.

"You 'lright?" he asked. I'm only able to nod, stunned at how hot he was. Almost as if he could read my thoughts, he grinned at me before taking my hand. "C'mon, rumor has it an evac station's just on the roof!"

"O-okay" I mumbled, letting him lead me outside the room, and without letting go of my hand we climbed the staircase. It surprised me how many flights of stairs there was, and it didn't take long for us to start gasping for air. Behind us I could hear footsteps closing in. I don't know why but I felt the need to get away, and I pushed myself to go faster.

"Who the hell…puts an evac station…up thirty flights of goddamn stairs…" I heard from behind us, a deep rumbling voice but I didn't turn around to see who it came from. There was a slight laugh closer behind me.

"C'mon Coach, maybe the helicopter…maybe it's made of chocolate!" a less deep but gruff voice replied. No one answered him, but the man and I continued to climb the stairs hand in hand. We reached for the door leading to the roof and pushed it open, running out expecting to find some means of transportation to take us away from the burning building. What we found was nothing. Nothing was waiting for us, nothing was there. We walked forward to see a few helicopters flying away, ignoring us completely. The man in the mechanic garb walked away from me.

"Hey, where is everybody? Hellooooo? Anyone here?" he shouted, looking around. Finally I turn around to see the people who had followed us. A lady with soft dark skin wearing a pink dépêche mode shirt and jeans with black hair tightly knotted into a bun lifted her hand to head, watching the helicopters fly away.

"Ugh, this is not happening…this is not happening…this is not happening…" she muttered to herself. A big bald black man wearing a purple and yellow sports shirt and light brown pants walked in front of her, also watching the helicopters.

"Aren't they supposed to be saving our asses?" he exclaimed, glaring as they soon became too far away to hear anymore. Another man, who was bent over with his hands on his knees while gasping for air, had his brown hair slicked back and was wearing a white suit with a blue undershirt. He glanced over at the bigger man before looking up at the helicopters also.

"Looks like there's been a change of plans…" he said in a calm voice, but I could sense anger hidden behind the surface. With a little disgust I saw a hicky on the man's neck. Looking away, I spotted something strange.

"Come look at this…" I said, just loud enough for them to hear me, almost as if I spoke any louder something would come out and attack us. They all turned to where I was indicating, a table laid with four medkits, two axes, two crowbars, and a pistol.

"Oh how thoughtful…they left us supplies…" said the guy in the white suit sarcastically.

"I've been hearing about things…" the lady started to say, but then she saw me and the hat guy. "You know what? Never mind…but just…grab a weapon." The man who saved me from the room turned to me and grinned, picking up the axe.

"Picked this out just for you, beautiful." He said, handing it to me. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks!" I looked down at the potential weapon I held, and felt a grin spread across my face. "This thing is heavy and extremely dangerous!" he gave me the most adorable smile; I almost forgot we were probably at least seven years apart.

Once the other four picked out their weapons, the suit guy the pistol, the sports guy a crowbar, the lady the other crowbar, and the mechanic the last axe, we were ready to go. I took a deep breath to ready myself for what was ahead. I didn't like what the woman said about hearing things…could have the sickness reached this far? With a pang I remembered my mother, she never returned. Bitterly I wondered if she left me to save herself, but I might never know now, and now wasn't the time to think about it. When the others opened the door and headed back down the stairs I followed. Once we reached the door to one of the hallways we opened it expecting it to be empty.

We were wrong.

I gasped, and I wasn't alone.

"Jumping Jehosaphat! What are these things?" the sports guy asked aloud, staring in shock at the people looking mutated in the hallway, walking slowly.

"Is that a zombie? Like a, like a—ZOMBIE, zombie?" the mechanic asked, standing closely behind me. Thinking of these people as zombies felt wrong, but there just wasn't any other way to describe them.

"This is why we got weapons…" suit guy said in a low voice, roughly pushing past us to walk out into the hallway. He walked right up to one and put a pistol to its head while it was still sitting down and pushed the trigger. Immediately I felt injustice boil in my veins.

"What the hell are you doing?" I screamed, running out into the hallway and attempted to grab his pistol, but he easily moved it away.

"You see these people, baby cheeks? They aren't human anymore! If we don't kill them, they'll kill us! Do you understand now?" he shouted, forcing me to take a step back. I felt frozen to the spot, just staring at the dead person dumbly. They still looked human…but at the same time…they didn't…I gulped.

"Yes…" I whispered.

"Good!" and with that, he stormed away from me, throwing his arms in the air wildly. "Not only do I have to survive this, I'm gonna have to babysit too!" I felt tears sting in my eyes until I felt a rough but gentle hand nudge mine. I looked up to see the younger man, who grinned at me reassuringly. At the sight of his grin I couldn't help but grin back. The two behind us moved in front, and the man and I took up the rear as we walked down the hall. The guy in the front glanced quickly in each room before stopping at one near the end of the hall and walked inside. When we entered he found a magnum and picked it up, offering the pistol off to someone else wordlessly. The lady with the pink shirt placed the crowbar on the table and took the pistol from him, nodding her thanks.

When we turned around to leave the room however, a group of the zombies had started screaming and running inside towards us. With a little yelp I swung my axe, decapitating one but more came after it. I heard gun fire behind us and a "thump" as the bigger man used his crowbar to knock one into the wall. One of the zombies that came in was wearing a protective suit, and the face I saw through the glass will haunt me forever.

"Hazmat guys!" someone yelled behind me and a shot punctured the suit, sending it down with the last ones. Turning around I saw the white suit guy walk forward to the hazmat person, kicking it slightly to make sure it was dead. "Guess those suits don't stop bites." He walked away from it, and the others followed him out of the room. Lagging behind a bit, I looked at the small tag on the suit that read "CEDA". Curious, I ran to catch up with the others.

"What's the CEDA?" I questioned.

"Civil Emergency and Defense Agency." The girl with the pink shirt answered shortly. I said a silent "Oh" and continued behind them. We turned a corner and down the hall to where the elevators were and examined them.

"I don't think you're supposed to use an elevator when the buildin's on fire." The sports guy pointed out.

"Well it doesn't look like we're gonna be able to either way…this one ain't working…" I announced. The guy in the suit cursed slightly before leading us down another hall, his strides long and quick. There was a sudden explosion down the hall that surprised us all and the next thing we knew the guy up front was on the ground, one of the zombies wearing a hoodie on top of him and began to rip at his chest.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" he screamed, and the mechanic being the closest ran up and sliced it's head off.

"Are you okay?" I asked immediately as the younger man attempted to help him up, but he pushed him away and got up himself, brushing off his suit.

"Do I LOOK okay? That thing jumped me and started digging away at my guts!" he yelled. Feeling hurt, I didn't answer, but the lady glared at him.

"You actually look fine, now how about you keep walking and leave the kid alone?" she snapped. He glared back at her, but without argument he walked into the closest room.

"Thanks…" I whispered to her. She grinned.

"No problem, sweetie, now let's get moving." She said and we followed her into the room the suit went inside. The room looked like it was made for storage, a closet to the side with shelves lining the walls. The man was already at the window, a look of thought on his face. The sports guy moved to one of the shelves and picked up what looked like to be a small bottle of pain pills.

"Damn right, I'm gonna grab everything I can." He said before he pocketed them. The man in front finally turned to us.

"Out here, let's try the ledge!" he suggested, and without waiting for an alternative, he broke the window with his gun and walked casually outside. The lady and purple shirt guy walked out first gingerly, and I hesitated. The guy with the hat could sense my concern and gave me a smile.

"It's okay, I'll be right behind ya." He assured me, and I just couldn't deny him. My breath shook as I stepped over the window and out onto the ledge. Feeling the wall beside me, I instinctively looked down and did NOT like what I saw. I shut my eyes tightly before continuing, my left hand lightly tracing the walls and windows we past while my right gripped the axe in my hand tightly. It didn't take long though for the zombies to realize what we were doing. One of them jumped out the window right in front of me, hitting me. Screaming I tried to get away from it so I had room to hit it with the axe, but my foot missed solid ground and went off the edge, making me off balanced and I tipped over the edge. Luckily the bigger man whipped around and smacked the zombie so hard it fell off the ledge. Not so lucky for me however, was the fact that I was now hanging onto the ledge for dear life.

"HELP!" I shrieked, and the man who was right behind me knelt down.

"Up we go!" he said cheerfully, picking me up by underneath the arms and lifting me up back on my feet. The sports guy helped steady me.

"Thank you…" I breathed, still winded from my fall. He smiled.

"No problem!"

"C'mon, let's go." The girl said, and with that we continued along the ledge. One of the rooms we passed was on fire, but the other wasn't, so the suit guy kicked in the window and we walked inside. It was relatively empty except for beds and a dresser until we went to the door and opened it. Outside were more zombies, and another CEDA guy. We fought them easily, until I noticed something on the ground. I picked it up and found it was a container holding greenish liquid. The guy in the suit walked up to me to see what I was holding.

"Is that a bottle of puke?" He asked. Feeling immediately disgusted, I instantly dropped the bottle. Laughing at my reaction, he knelt on the ground and picked it up, and for reasons unknown he decided to pocket it. In my mind, I concluded that he was messed up in the head beyond all hope of repair. Further down the hall, ignoring the group of furniture and fire behind us was another flight of stairs. Without complaining or even talking, we ran down it. There was no door, only a doorway, and what ran out of it to greet us was no savior. A tall zombie with boil mutations on its right side and its face was hardly recognizable. But there had to be some sort of mouth, because a tongue whipped out like a rope and wrapped around the mechanic's waist and violently pulled him towards the monster. We were momentarily stunned.

"TOGNUE…SHOOT THE…TOGNUE!" he yelled out, and it was only then did I realize that the tongue had also grabbed hold of his throat, strangling him. The bigger man was the first to act and shot it right in the head, killing it instantly and we watched as it crumpled and fell to the ground. The man gasped for air, for the hold on his throat was tight before he thanked the larger man. Without a word we moved on, hoping we wouldn't have to face something like that again. We walked down the long hall into a large resting room, where a lot of zombies were chilling out. Or, at least, that's what it looked like to me.

"Let's try to sneak past 'em…" I whispered, and they nodded in agreement, walking slowly into the room to find the elevators. When I saw one, I noticed a disgusting gurgling sound and turned around, only too late to see a huge fat guy with boils barf all over the bigger man and the lady. Appalled they jumped back from the creature, and quick to the gun the one in the purple shirt shot it before it could get any closer. However, this didn't go unnoticed to the zombies. Ignoring me and the other two, they ran towards the ones recently puked on. The amount of zombies that surrounded us was frightening, but through the tight group I stepped on a strange object. Looking down I see it looked like a white pipe with a red button on it. I leaned down and pressed the button, and it started to beep. Gasping, I look around desperately, trying to find the others. I'm so stupid! I can't believe I just started a bomb! But it seemed to have grabbed the attention of all the zombies, who turned their focus away from the others to run towards the flashing light the red button was now making. Picking up my axe, I pushed some back and started to slash my way through.

"EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM THE ZOMBIES I STARTED A BOMB!" I yelled, finally escaping the zombie mess. Behind me appeared the other four, and we all quickly moved to the elevator, the sports guy now limping. We closed the door just in time to see the zombies near the bomb explode and fly across the room. We all took relieving gasps.

"Anyone get bit? I think that's how it works…" the guy in the suit asked, looking around at the rest of us.

"I don't think so…my friends call me Coach, I guess y'all can do the same." The man with the purple shirt introduced himself.

"Hey, name's Rochelle, you?" the lady asked, turning to the mechanic.

"Ellis, it's a pleasure to meet you Rochelle. What about you, beautiful?"

"Jeanette Kaija, but y'all can call me Jean if ya want…" I answered, leaning against the elevator wall.

"Name's Nick, but don't bother learning it 'cause I ain't sticking around long." The guy with the suit announced.

"Well let's stick together for a little longer, Nick." Coach suggested, and Nick nodded.

"There's a gun shop that ain't too far from here…we can head there after we get outta the buildin'." Ellis suggested.

"Sounds like a plan…let's do it!" Rochelle agreed, starting the elevator. I took a deep breath and looked around at the four people around the room, axe hanging loosely at my side. For some reason, I felt like we were going to be together for a long time…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The elevator started moving down, and as it did, Coach took the pain pills he picked up earlier.

"That'll keep it tight!" he muttered slightly, putting the bottle back in his pocket. We waited in silence until the elevator stopped; smoke seeping through the slit made by the conjoining doors. When the door failed to open by itself, Nick walked up to it.

"Everybody ready?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. We all nodded, giving the ok. Nick slipped his fingers into the door and forced them to open, making a loud grinding sound. Immediately the voices of infected reached us, and on the floor just ahead of the elevator was more guns.

"Everybody grab a weapon!" Nick commanded, running forward and picking up a silenced machine gun. The other three did the same, considering that was the only type. We ran back inside the elevator and waited for them to come to us, I stood in a fighting stance with my axe ready to strike anything that entered. Nick took out the bile jar as we heard the running footsteps get closer and he threw it just outside the elevator doors. At first I couldn't understand why he did it, but then I noticed that it took the attention off of us and the zombies were now fighting each other amidst the cloud of puke. The other four began to help them kill each other off, shooting them as I waited patiently, sometimes killing a stray zombie that tried to get into the elevator. Once the horde was killed off, we walked outside and made our way down the hall, to where we hoped was outside. Finding the end of the hallway had become engulfed in flames, we turned into a room that would lead us around with Ellis in front. Hearing a disgusting sound from the distance, we turned to see a horribly misshaped woman spit a green liquid substance right in front of us. With Ellis a little farther away than the rest of us, he found himself caught in the goo, and he jumped back with a yell of pain.

"Oh, great, now they're spitting shit at us!" he shouted, and took aim at the monster, shooting it straight in the chest. It fell to the ground in a puddle of its own acidic spit.

"Over here." Nick pointed out, jumping over a lunch table to get to the other side. Ellis and I lagged behind the slightest bit, helping me up onto the table politely.

"How come ya didn' pick up here a machine gun? Ain't a best gun in the world but it works, can't use that there axe forever, Jean." He asked. I felt myself blush, and tried to make it look like the heat was just getting to me.

"I-I've never used a gun before…" I admitted, and he grinned understandingly.

"Aw don't worry none! When we get to that gun shop I'll teach ya how to shoot a gun just as good as a hunter killin' Bambi!" I was a little shocked when he said "killin' Bambi" but none the less pleased. I knew I wouldn't get very far without knowing how to properly defend myself. With a nod of agreement, we hurried to catch up with the others; Nick watching us as we did but he didn't say anything. Once over the table before I left the room with the others I quickly picked up a bottle of pain pills, just in case we needed them later. When I followed them into the room they had gone inside, I noticed that they were a little ways away from each other, looking for anything that could help. The only thing they found was a pipe bomb that Rochelle found and hooked securely onto her belt for safe keeping. We left the room, and this time I was in front. Just at the end of this huge room I could see a room that had a red steel door, which looked secure enough to keep the zombies away.

"This way!" I yelled, running towards safety. However, the zombies were not gonna let us get away that easily. A tiny bald ugly thing jumped on Coach, steering him away from the rest of the group.

"Ellis, is that you on my back?" he exclaimed. Ellis shook his head, raising his gun.

"That ain't me, man!" Ellis yelled back. Rochelle and I stood in shock.

"Holy shit, that thing's riding him!" she shrieked, also raising her gun and tried to aim so she wouldn't shoot Coach. As those two started to shoot it, I turned around and noticed Nick wasn't with us. It didn't take long for me to see him running towards the safe room. His attempts at ditching us was spoiled quickly when a huge, elephant sounding zombie with one tiny wiggling arm and a huge strong one charged at him, knocking him over and grabbing him with his good arm and started pounding him into the ground.

"KILL THIS GODDAMN THING!" he howled. Because the others were busy helping Coach I knew it had to be me to help him, even though he's a goddamn asshole for trying to leave us behind. Heaving the axe above my head I ran towards it, and when I was close enough I swung the axe as hard as I could at the monster. The axe made contact with its little arm, and it fell in a splat of blood on the ground, still twitching. The charger gave a howl of pain and released Nick instantly. I took the chance of weakness to hack at it until it finally fell down. Standing up and breathing heavily, Nick looked from the charger to me in almost disbelief.

"Howdja…do that…?" he finally asked, just as the other three began towards us. I smirked.

"No need to thank me!" I told him, then turned on my heel and walked towards the safe room, fighting off the urge to pull my head back and laugh. I could hear them talk behind me, but I was happy. Once they all walked inside with Nick stumbling behind them, he shut the door.

"WOO! WE COOL! WE GUNNA BE ALRIGHT!" Coach yelled at the top of his lungs. It may sound stupid, but hope flickered inside me and I couldn't help but laugh, and Ro and Ellis joined me. Looking over I saw Nick, whose face was as solemn as ever. Who knows, maybe someday we can get him to laugh WITH us and not AT US…hmm…someday…someday is full of maybes. But like Coach said, we're gonna be alright.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Where do you think that chopper was headin'?" I asked Ellis, sitting patiently in a chair with my axe sitting in my lap as he reloaded his newly grabbed pump shotgun. After piling boxes and other heavy things in front of the door we came in through, we began to stock up for what was ahead of us. While the gun shop was our first target, we had to go somewhere after that.

" I reckon it's headed to the mall. There's an evacuation center there. Grab some weapons and I'll lead the way." He said, smiling to me with an air of authority. I looked on the table with a few weapons for something that could easily be dealt with. Finding nothing, I looked up at the others to see what they had gotten. Besides Nick, the others had grabbed two pistols. Coach followed Ellis and took a pump shotgun while Ro took the submachine gun. Nick simply reloaded his Silenced Submachine Gun and went with that. After that Coach sat down and started to wrap his wounds carefully with his med kit while the rest of us didn't need it. Finishing with his healing, Coach stood up with a sigh of relief as the discomfort was released and picked up another med kit.

It must have been the newly found adrenaline inside me, because I was just yearning to go outside, already in front of the door while everyone else got ready. Rochelle got done first, walking to me with an encouraging smile.

"I'm here, I'm with ya." She whispered to me. Feeling safe and protected with those words, I smiled back, and then opened the door. As soon as the door was flung open zombies turned to see what the commotion was about. Blood pumping in my ears, I ran forward with my axe raised high and ready to strike my victims. I began to slash away at them while my teammates began to take out the ones on the side of me. After taking out the immediate ones I looked around to see how the others were holding up. I turned just in time to see Nick whip around from the fence, where zombies were climbing, and looked around in horror.

"Can you hear that?" I heard him say. Worriedly I looked around; if something got the con man scared you know it's bad. The others however didn't pause to help him search for the haunting noise that only he could hear. But it soon wouldn't be just him…Nick's eyes widened in terror at something behind me and yelled, raising his gun immediately. "Hunter!"

I felt the pain before anything else. Immediately my hand grasped my shoulder, and I felt the sticky liquid overflow between my fingers. Tears stung my eyes but I realized I felt angrier than pained. The IDIOT fucking SHOT ME!

"THANK YOU! I needed to get rid of blood somehow!" I shouted, still not removing my hand. Ellis looked over and saw the blood on my hand, starting to run towards me.

"Whoa Nick, wow man what the hell you shoot her for?" He started saying, taking the advantage of the zombies realizing their defeat and retreating a little deeper into the streets we walked out on, to look at my wound. Not being an expert, I knew it wasn't too bad, but damn it was bleeding a lot and it HURT. However you could tell that the bullet just grazed it, but fuck it scared the CRAP out of me!

"If you'd looked out, you wouldn't get hit!" Nick shouted back, aiming it at me. That crossed the line. I felt my face go hot with fury.

"LOOK? YOU DIDN'T GIVE A RATS ASS THAT I WAS IN THE WAY! YOU WERE JUST SCARED OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND THAT YOU DECIDED TO SHOOT, NO MATTER WHO GOT HURT DOIN' IT!" I screamed, which was a very bad idea. Even now I could hear the yells of maddened zombies and feel the ground start to shake with the many feet pounding on it. While Coach and Rochelle were getting ready for the hoard, Ellis, Nick and I were still not done with the event that just happened.

"Whatever." Nick said in response to what I said. When Ellis took out his med kit to patch up my minor wound, Nick walked up and snatched it away from him. "Gimme that, let a professional do it…knowing you, you'd just do it wrong and end up killing her."

Ellis looked at Nick in shock, but didn't argue. The hurt in his eyes was enough for me to snap. I pushed the med kit away when he attempted to get close to me. "Don't touch me!"

Nick stared, bewildered, for a few seconds before I got tired of looking at him and turned away. Walking in the direction of the hoard that still hadn't registered in my brain; I could hear Nick yell after me. "FINE! BE A BABY AND DIE FOR ALL I CARE! BUT DON'T COME CRYING TO ME WHEN IT GETS INFECTED AND IT'LL HAVE TO BE AMPUTATED!"

I raised my middle finger at him without turning to face him before being swallowed inside the hoard.

* * *

"Alright, so what in Hell's name happened back there?" Coach demanded. We were all sitting in blue tents at the end of the street. Just getting done with clearing the area, we decided to take a small rest, especially with how injured Ellis and I were. I felt stupid, which was why I denied the first aid from Rochelle, saying it would be wasting one. She disagreed, saying if I didn't take it I'd lag behind and they'd have to wait for me. I didn't like that idea any better, so I let her heal me without complaint and she had currently gone back down to the safe house with Ellis real fast to grab two more first aids. While we held out for their return, Coach patiently waited for an explanation. Knowing how idiotic I had been, I didn't really want to admit it to the guy who reminds me of my old P.E teacher, who was also the foot ball coach. I wasn't quite sure why Nick wasn't bragging how stupid I was being, but one of us had to say it, and it was obviously not going to be him. Sighing I explained to Coach about the little "incident" between Nickie and me. He listened without talking until I reached the end.

"Well, child, I understand why you were mighty upset at the man." When he said this he shot a glare at Nick, who avoided his penetrating gaze. "But runnin' off like that coulda gotten you killed. Now promise me you won't go and do somethin' like that again, okay, youn'en?" I nodded.

Before any of us could blink, I felt something slimy across my waist and throat. Before I could even act I lurched out of my seat and was dragged across the cement at alarming speed towards the same mutated thing that had grabbed Ellis before. The tongue was tight against my throat, cutting off air. I managed to scream out "SMOKER HA-" before the tongue tightened ever so much to make the rest falter into nothing. I watched helplessly as I was dragged out of view of my teammates, struggling against the tongues grip on me to try and let myself breathe. As if picked up from a strong force, my body was forced in a standing position. What came next nothing could prepare me for. Sharpened finger nails started slashing their way at my skin, trying desperately to rip the clothing protecting my backside. I tried to scream but it turned out to be nothing but a choked gurgle. Twisting and turning I tried to get away from it, but it didn't take long for it to claw its way to my bare back and rip it away. Shutting my eyes I prayed for it to end, and finally in what seemed like hours it did. The grip on my throat turned feeble and fell away, but the tiny weight against my waist sent me down with the now dead body. The green smoke that filled the air was putrid, causing me to cough violently as I looked around for my savior. Out of the green mist a hand was extended to me, and I was surprised to see it was Nick's smirk I saw. I took his hand and he pulled me up, patting my shoulder slightly.

"Really saved me…thanks…" I muttered. He grunted, smirk still in place. The smirk was a strange smirk. It wasn't the kind where you wanted to slap him so hard the smirk would go away, it was the kind that you could live with and at the same time feel a strange mysteriousness emitting from it.

The other three had caught up with us now, Coach panting as he tried to catch up.

"Let's get a move on." Nick said indifferently, like nothing had happened. Coach stared at him as he walked away down the hill, but just shrugged. We had already secured this little area, wiping out all the zombies up and down the hill. Ellis dawdled a bit, looking for things we could use to help.

"Got some frag rounds here!" he shouted out after jumping out of a truck, putting the explosive ammo on the ground for everyone else to reach. While everyone else was grabbing this he moved back to the truck and seized a bottle of pain pills, putting them in the pocket of his coveralls.

All of a sudden we heard soft sobs coming from an unmistakable little girl. We looked around, our guns lowered so we didn't scare anything.

"Someone's still alive…" I whispered. We walked down the hill carefully, trying to lighten our steps to better hear the crying. Finding the source didn't take too long, as a girl with white dank hair and pale skin that glistened in the sun light. She held her head in obvious pain, wearing white ragged clothing. Ellis walked forward to try and ease her.

"C'mon girly it'll be alrigh' we can help ya!" he said in a calming voice, a reassuring smile on his lips. A low growl started to come from the girl as she slowly moved her hands away from her face, revealing eyes red like the devil.

"ELLIS! Leave the witch alone!" Nick commanded, grabbing the back of Ellis' shirt and pulling him back. The witch didn't stop growling, and moved her arms to the side as she snarled and we could see her fingers were actually long sharp claws. Not wanting to take the chance, Nick aimed at her and shot her, expecting her to die just as easily as the others do. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she rushed forwards with her arms out stretched longingly for Nick's blood. He started to run, and the others began to shoot her, trying desperately to kill her before she could reach him. With my heart pumping loud in my chest, I ran forward after her, feeling bullets streak past me as I raised my axe. Mustering all the strength I could, I flung the axe towards her, knowing I'd never be able to catch up with her. The axe and many bullets that entered her body was finally too much for her to handle. Howling in pain she fell to her knees, lifting her head to look up at the sky one more time before falling onto her side in a lifeless stain of red. Breathing heavily, Nick put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. I felt like I couldn't breathe at all, no matter how hard I tried to. The shock of what happened was almost too much to bear. Things were going by way too quickly, just this morning I was waking up to the building on fire, and the night before I was holding my mother and accepting her gift. Thinking about this made me reach up to make sure the necklace was still there, and it was. I tried to think more but I knew I couldn't, we had things to do and it wasn't safe here. Prepared for anything, they had their guns up, ready to shoot anything that moved. I stayed in the middle, my hands gripping the axe so tightly my knuckles went white.

We walked inside a building next to a couple parked cars and went inside. Wordlessly we walked down a couple small flights of stairs to see a couple zombies next to a propane tank. Coach shot the tank and the zombies were flown across the room, an arm nearly hitting me across the face. Ellis walked forward and without needing to go down the other flight of stairs he shot the last zombie mercilessly before it could run up to us. I followed close behind him, feeling slightly out of place without him. From the doorway we could hear gross gurgling sounds that made anyone want to puke.

"Boomer!" Rochelle called and lifted her gun to shoot something outside the doorway that Coach, Ellis and I couldn't see. When it exploded, us three were too close and were smothered with puke and boomer guts. We stumbled backwards, and I gagged.

"That is BEYOND nasty!" I screamed, but horror gripped me as I heard the hurried footsteps of the infected, obviously attracted to the boomer puke. Ellis pushed me up against the wall, standing in front of me while trying his best to wipe the goo out of his eyes. Afraid to do the same if something came up and attacked, I tried my best to see through it, which proved almost impossible. I could just see shapes as they moved around near the doorway and shot away at what I assumed were infected. A few minutes past and the screeching had stopped as the last of the zombies were killed. Finally I lifted my hand up and rubbed at my eyes, trying my hardest to pretend it was just water.

Walking outside we went down another tiny stair case to the street, right above our heads was what looked like the beginnings of a bridge foundation. Killing stray zombies wondering down the road we walked under one of the bridges next to a van and saw a small clearing obscured by trees and bushes. Ellis jumped onto a car next to the fence and kneeled down on one knee, shooting zombies he could see through the brush. Nick and Rochelle stayed close to the car he sat upon, killing stray zombies he missed. Looking around I found Coach limping towards us. Curiosity and concern forced me to go over to him.

"Um, sir? Are you okay?" I asked. I called him "sir" because Coach sounded a little…to informal-and for just meeting and my polite upbringing, it just wouldn't do. He grinned up at me.

"Oh I'ma fine, youn'en. My knee here just a little stiff…" he explained, stretching out his left leg. Nodding in understanding, I take my pain pills and hand them to him.

"Here, this might help…" before he could reject them I give him an encouraging smile, which he returns and takes a couple pills before standing up straight and walking back with me. We didn't reach them yet when we heard the disgusting sound of someone getting ready to hurl a spit ball.

"Fire spit coming!" Nick shouted but it was too late for the three of them to move. Ellis jumped high in the air, falling off of the car with a yelp and landing on his side.

"ELLIS!" I screamed, trying to run forward but Coach grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back. Rochelle and Nick finally made it out, cursing the pain. Ellis couldn't get up.

"HEEEEEELP!" he yelled. After what seemed like forever the spit faded and entered the ground, making passage to Ellis clear. Rushing forward I gently take his arm and steady him as he began to pick himself up, his face white as a sheet.

"I'm here now, I'm here now, you're gonna be okay!" I assured as he straightened up the best he could. Coach stepped behind me, holding his first aid kit. Shuffling awkwardly backwards, Ellis hovered his hand protectively over his shoulder, eyeing Coach's first aid kit.

"Stop squirming, I'm gonna heal ya." Coach said, taking a grip hold on Ellis' other shoulder. While Coach tended to Ellis, I looked around for the other two. I found them already over the fence separating the grass from cement, shooting something I couldn't see. Once Ellis' shoulder was securely wrapped, we walked on to the rest of them and found the spitter they had been shooting at.

"Nice work!" Coach complimented, looking down at the deformed fat dead lady at his feet with his head slightly tilted to the side. Moving through the brush was a little hard, twigs kept snagging my hair, but it was a small area and we were on the other side before long. Jumping over the fence again we took care of roaming zombies before looking for supplies. Finding nothing, we walked down the road for a little bit before coming across a cement truck with a ladder on the side. One by one we climbed up and the others knelt as they shot away at zombies, while I watched our backs.

"IS THIS THING HUMPING ME?" I suddenly heard, and turning around I was nearly knocked over by Ellis; who was being driven away by a jockey. "GET HIM OFF GET HIM OFF!" the jockey forced him off of the truck, and I was amazed to see Ellis was still standing. Jumping down, I ran after him and knocked the jockey in the back of the head with the handle of my axe. When it fell off Ellis' head I swung my axe, decapitating it. Turning around Ellis muttered short thanks before blowing a zombie that was heading for us both.

"Y'all okay?" Coach asked, jumping down also. Before we could answer I watched as a stealthy charger ran into Coach, knocking him sideways. I realized too late who it was after. The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped for air. A strong hand encircled my stomach completely in a death-tight grip. I felt myself being lifted into the air.

"HELP! HELP! IT'S GOT ME!" I screamed, but if help was approaching it couldn't save me from being pounded into the ground with so much strength I thought I felt something break. Agonizing pain ran across my body and involuntarily a shriek escaped my mouth. The air rippled as I was lifted again, my body limply begging to be dropped. Another slam to the ground and a million crumbles throughout the bone structure within me. It ended there though. I wasn't lifted again, and I was thankful to rest there for a moment to try and suckle the air around me like a vacuum cleaner. Breathing was hard to do with a burning liquid filling my mouth, and it terrified me to feel how sticky and warm it was. Dimly I recognized my name being called, but I couldn't move. Everything hurt. Anger and distress screamed in my head when an unknown force tried to drag me off of the ground.

"Jean! Jean! Look at me!" surrendering I obeyed and gazed up into the adorable face written with worry, black blotches scattering my vision. "Look at me…you're gonna be okay…" who he was trying to convince was a mystery to me, but I let him pull me from the ground without complaint. The stinging liquid remained in my mouth, forcing me to cough violently. Removing my hand, sluggishly I realized the reddish liquid was my blood.

"Jeanie? Are you all right?" Rochelle asked, racing forward with Nick close on her heels. Unable to answer, I just bob my head up and down as I swerved on the spot, holding my mouth loosely to prevent blood spilling out. Pushing everyone aside, Nick stepped in front of me and examined me, first aid kit in his hands.

"Let Dr. Nick fix ya up…" he muttered, turning to the others slightly to glare at them and understandingly they walked a little ways to give us privacy. In a whisper he said to me, "Now don't tell the other's I'm doing this…I'm only doing this for you." Grinning to myself drunkenly I try and find a hint of sarcasm, but I couldn't find any.

"Yes, Dr." I murmured, forcing myself to swallow the accumulated blood in my mouth. He grinned slightly and went to work.


End file.
